KHATEMA FIBRES LIMITED Vs. CHAIRMAN, CESS APPELLATE COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a company registered under the Companies Act and is engaged in the manufacture of craft paper and paper board. The provision of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 is applicable since the petitioner's industry is an industry specified in Schedule (1) of the said Act. The petitioner is aggrieved by the assessment order dated 25.01.1994 as well as the appellate order dated 01.06.1996 passed under the aforesaid Act for the period 01.12.1992 to 31.12.1993 by which an assessment of Rs. 1,33,061.18 was levied as water cess. According to the petitioner, before passing the assessment order, it was necessary for the Assessing Authority to make an inquiry and further grant an opportunity of hearing as provided u/s. 6 before passing the order. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that no inquiry was made nor an opportunity of hearing was given and, consequently, the assessment order as confirmed by the appellate order, being violative of principle of natural justice and being violative of the provision of Section 6 of the Act, was liable to be quashed.

(2.) In this regard, the Court has heard Sri Gopal Narain, the learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri Sudhir Kumar, the learned counsel for the respondents.

(3.) In order to appreciate the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner, it would be essential to peruse the provision of Section 5 and 6 of the Act, 1977. For facility, the said provision is extracted hereunder:-